


Three Blankets (and a Little Honey)

by misura



Category: Doctor Strange (2016)
Genre: M/M, Missing Scene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-23
Updated: 2018-09-23
Packaged: 2019-07-16 00:51:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 942
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16074926
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/misura/pseuds/misura
Summary: Mordo offers tea and warmth after Stephen's Everest adventure.





	Three Blankets (and a Little Honey)

It was Mordo who caught him when he stumbled, a belated and thus rather superfluous reaction to being exposed to the cold of Everest for an amount of time somewhat shy of half an hour.

"I - " Stephen said. If it had been The Ancient One instead of Mordo, he might have asked _why?_.

A pointless question, really: he knew why.

"Merciless, yet kind," Mordo said. "As I told you. Now, come. Save your strength. Some tea, I think, to warm you, and perhaps a blanket or two."

"T-three," Stephen said. His entire body was shivering now, with adrenaline as much as cold, he judged, not that Mordo could be expected to see the difference. Besides, tea and some blankets ought to help with both. "I w-want three. And honey. In the t-tea."

Mordo chuckled, his body a solid weight, holding Stephen upright. "Recovering already, I hear."

Stephen scoffed. Being difficult and making demands had little to nothing to do with any healing process. Not that he thought _he_ was being particularly different - a near-fatal trip to Mount Everest surely entitled him to _some_ comfort.

"This weakness will pass," Mordo said, "and then you will be the stronger for it."

Stephen wanted to snap that as far as he aware, nobody had ever reaped any health benefits from nearly freezing to death. The human body simply didn't work that way.

"Ah. Wong. Thank you."

Stephen decided not to bother wondering how Wong had known when and where to show up, bearing blankets. Three, even. Mordo made no comment on the number, wrapping them around Stephen one by one. "I was p-promised tea."

Mordo smiled. "This way. Come."

Stephen allowed himself to be dragged along like so much dead weight. His legs still felt barely capable of bearing him. At least the shivers seemed to be subsiding.

Mordo sat him down in a small room Stephen hadn't seen before. "Yours?"

Mordo looked up from pouring tea in two small cups. "The room? It is." He grinned. "Does it meet with your approval?"

Stephen shrugged. "It's all right. Nice view." Of the temple's roof, that was.

"Once, it helped keep me from getting distracted from my studies. Now, I am grown too used to it to wish to see it changed." Mordo held out one of the cups. Stephen reached for it. "Are your hands capable?"

"Capable enough to hold a cup," Stephen said, curling his useless hands around the warmth. "Less capable of other things. As you well know."

Mordo shrugged, as well he might. "You have taken the first hurdle to mastering the sling ring. What follows after that will come to you quickly enough, with patience and study. Like all things."

Stephen sipped his tea. It was hot, but bitter. "I think you forgot the honey."

"It's on the table," Mordo informed him, smiling faintly. "If you want it, you may retrieve it for yourself. If not, well, then not. The choice is yours."

Stephen considered throwing something. Sadly, his tea cup was still full, and for the moment, at least, he'd prefer death over letting go of even one of his blankets.

"If I tell you I'm still cold, may I be expected to merely be pointed towards the nearest linen closet?"

Mordo gave him a considering look. "If your body has not yet regained its warmth, it may be more than blankets are called for."

_Oh, goodie._ "Such as?" Stephen asked. "Hypothetically."

Mordo shrugged. "A friend might offer to share the heat of his own body with that of yours."

"Ah," Stephen said. "A friend. And where might I find such a person? One assumes that a true friend, also, would not deny me some honey in my tea."

"I have not denied you anything," Mordo said. "Nor would I, were you to ask me."

Oh-so tempting to ask for honey again, but Stephen admitted that he was intrigued by the possibility of something a good deal more personal than honey. He liked Mordo, and flattered himself that they were, at the very least, friends, yet an offer to get naked together in the name of sharing body heat seemed to hint at feelings of a somewhat different nature than friendship.

"Well," he said. "I'm game if you are."

Another considering look. "There are other ways. Easier ways. Less personal ways."

"When, during the admittedly rather short period of our acquaintance, have you ever known me to choose to do something the easy way?" Stephen smiled. The tea might be bitter, but it did warm him, as did the blankets. As did the idea that he might shortly be sharing said blankets with Mordo.

"Never." Mordo did not return the smile. "Which is not the virtue you appear to think it is."

_My experience of this place thus far seems to disagree with you._ "Come now. You extended an offer of physical intimacy, I accepted. Must we wage another philosophical debate?"

"There's value in both philosophy and the discussing of ideas," Mordo said, but he put down his tea cup, so Stephen decided not to argue the point. For now.

Mostly. "There's also value in shutting up and getting on with things."

"A surprising piece of wisdom, coming from you," Mordo said, stripping off his shirt. "Are you quite sure that you are still cold? Your color seems to have improved considerably."

Stephen opened his mouth, then thought better of it, instead putting down his own cup.

Mordo chuckled. "Stay with us, Stephen, and you may become a wise man yet."

"Right now, I'd happily settle for becoming a warm one," Stephen said.

"I will do my utmost," Mordo promised.


End file.
